I own a Smith and Wesson M&P 15 Sport. I have a Sightmark Sureshot reflex sight: Academy - Sightmark Sure Shot™ Reflex Sight
that I use in conjunction with my BUIS for good shot grouping up to about 100 - 150 yds. I love the sight picture this combination creates when aquiring targets at close range, but it is very difficult to get a good grouping past 150 yds with it. I have tried out a friends adjustable power scope and my rifle groups fine out to 200 - 250 yds, but aquiring targets at a closer range with the scope is difficult and awkward. What I want to do is mount an offset scope ring like this one: 1" Side Offset Scope Ring Weaver Mount
or another type and use the scope for aquiring long range targets and the reflex sight for close range. I understand that mounting a scope offset of the bore will only be accurate for exactly the distance you dial it in for and very inaccurate at any other distance. But my reasoning is that I can dial the scope at 200 yds and just use it for long distance shots, then switch my sight picture to the reflex sight fo closer targets. Has anyone had experience with a similar setup or with offset scopes? Any other suggestions would be helpful as well. Thanks in advance.
*Also, Most offset scope/red-dot setups Ive seen have the scope mounted following the bore and have the red-dot offset to a 45deg. on the right, rear of the scope. Ive tried this setup on a friend's rifle, but didnt like the sight picture of the reflex sight without having it in conjunction with the BUIS. I also didnt like having to hold the rifle "gangsta" style while using the reflex sight. With the setup I am envisioning the scope will be offset to the left and I can just change my cheek/eye placement to move between the sights without changing hand or shoulder placement.
One of the inherent issues with the reflex sights is there is no definitive point of aim with the reflex dot. Most dots are greater in size than 1 MOA as well. The reflex sights inherently suffer from parallax error at distance. At the distances exceeding 100 yds, a scope with a good set of crosshairs will greatly improve your accuracy as you've already noted.
There is no single source sight that will adequately provide the answer for multiple ranges without having a reticle system that's calibrated specifically for the bullet you're shooting.
For short distances, the reflex sight is more than capable of giving you an acceptable sight picture because of it's single power magnification.
A variable power scope will give you the best sight picture and accuracy at distance.
There is no single answer to resolver you're issue. You need to figure out which is the most important to you, and build to that need. If you want both, you'll need to create different sight sets to suit each need accordingly.
"If you want both, you'll need to create different sight sets to suit each need accordingly."
Do you mean that I should have 2 quick detach systems setup? 1 for the variable power scope and 1 for the reflex sight?
That was an idea that I had, but unfortunately it would require far too much time to transition between the two. I sport shoot and hunt as well and would want a system that has both sights on the rifle at the same time therefore allowing me to have a fast, easy sight transition between long and short range targets. Thank you for the input though. It sounds like you've done your homework where rifle sights are concerned.
"There is no single source sight that will adequately provide the answer for multiple ranges without having a reticle system that's calibrated specifically for the bullet you're shooting."
Im not sure what kind of sight that would be. I only use Federal 55gr 5.56 M193 and Federal 62gr 5.56 M855 rounds through this rifle. I realize that those two types of ammo have vastly different bullets but, are you saying I should sight-in a reticle system with, say, the M193 ammo and ONLY use that ammo from that point on, and that would allow me to be accurate at both long AND close range targets? (Is that with just a variable power scope or the combination scope/reflex setup I want to do?)
Thank you, Gearchecker!
You could mount a laser sight underneath for close shots & a scope on top for longer shots... or just practice enough to learn how much to hold low @ close range & high @ long range (works for me).
I have a Burris AR-332 as one of the optics on mine. The 3x is awesome out to 150yds and good out to 200yds on a 6" target... much farther on a pig or "man"size target. It also has a peep sight that is definately not as accurate as the iron sights... but I wouldn't want to stand in front of it! I change over to a Bushnell 4-18x50mm when yote hunting or long-range shooting (300 to 600 is long-range for me). Guns are tools and none of them does every job perfectly (that's why they have different optics and weapons in a combat squad). I'm with gearchecker... figure out the job you want the weapon to perform (close, mid, or long-range) and build it to that purpose. IMO the Burris is a pretty good compromise.
Google "Brian Enos". He has a gamer shooting forum, where the three-gun guys can probably answer any questions you have. I have seen the configuration you describe and it looks to be very effective in competition.
I was running down some info on a scope for my AR and I came across a scope mount the has a hinge on it so the scope could be flipped off to the left out of the way for use of the reflex sight only It could be used with both sight setups Reflex only or reflex and scope combined.
I truly can't remember where I saw it. The websites information states you'll be able to obtain 2MOA at 250 yds and it's repeatable even after flipping the scope out of the way and back again. I recall it costs around $350 for the mount, but considering the advantages I think it would be worth looking into.
I'll try to find the website again. If I do I'll post it here.
Was just reading an old shotgun news from Nov. 2011 and came across an article titled "Alternative AR-15 optics and mounts".
There were several different options, but none with the scope offset. The closest one was like the one you described with the holo-sight offset, except it is an ambidextroius mount. The pic in the article showed the operator co-witnessing the scope with the holo-sight (kool). You do have to tilt the rifle to get the sight picture. It sounds like you want a 3 sight gun (open,holo &optic) FWIW I like injunbro's laser idea. Gearcheker's suggestion might work... if you have enough top rail on the Sport for the flip up open sight ,flip over scope and holo-sight ... sounds complicated. Getting this to work without sacrificing the open sight is tricky to say the least. The link below is to the holo-sight mount in the article. Gen 2 Burkett Offset Mount[/url
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